"Blues is easy to play, but hard to feel"

Jimi Hendrix's quote "Blues is simple to play, but hard to feel" speaks to the complexity of the category. While the technical aspects of playing the blues might be fairly uncomplicated, the psychological depth of the music is far more challenging to catch. The blues is a genre that is deeply rooted in the African American experience, and communicates a range of feelings from grief and pain to pleasure and event. To genuinely feel the blues, one need to have the ability to get in touch with the stories and emotions that the music conveys. This requires a level of understanding and empathy that is not quickly accomplished. While it might be simple to find out the chords and notes of a blues song, it is far more hard to catch the emotion and feeling of the music. Jimi Hendrix's quote speaks with the intricacy of the blues and the trouble of genuinely feeling the music.